$A down on weak retail spending data

THE Australian dollar has fallen back below 105 US cents due to weaker than expected retail sales data for November.

National retail trade was worth a seasonally adjusted $21.533 billion in November, down 0.1 per cent from a downwardly revised $21.547 billion in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

Economists had been forecasting a rise of 0.3 per cent for November.

The Australian dollar was worth 104.95 US cents at 1138 AEDT, down from 105.17 US cents at 1129 AEDT, prior to the data's release.

The local currency was worth 104.82 US cents at the end of local trading on Tuesday.